Generally, whenever the topic of Bill Murray and Ghostbusters 3 comes up, it’s because Dan Aykroyd is doing another interview. That script changed last week – because this time it was Ivan Reitman talking about the long in-development project and his MIA costar. The ending remains largely the same, however.

During a talk at a TIFF Bell Lightbox showing of the original Ghostbusters, Reitman took the stage to talk about the future of the franchise. What’s interesting here is that Reitman contradicts some of the info we’ve been hearing for the past several years – namely that Murray has read and rejected scripts for the film. Let’s allow Reitman to explain in his own words…

“Bill Murray has never actually read anything. He may have read 10 pages at some point, but he’s never read a script. But he’s never been interested, either. That part is true. It wasn’t Ghostbusters in particular, it’s just, he’s been carrying on his life in a different way, in terms of the kind of parts that he’s wanted to pursue. I mean, he’s a really brilliant actor, comedian, personality. I’ve worked with him now five times, and I would love to work with him again. I’d hope that he could be in this film. He could be, he might not be, I really don’t know.”

Reitman does at least stick with the Aykroyd company line in leaving the door open for a potential return of Murray, but at this point I think we all agree that it’s most likely not going to happen.

The actor then talks a bit about the project as a whole and reveals why it’s taken so long to get the film up and running.

“[I]f we can find a way to make a film that’s somewhat as magical as [Ghostbusters] finally turned out to be, then it’s worth making. If we can’t, then we probably won’t do it. And I think that’s really what’s been taking so damn long. We had a couple of scripts that were quite good, that we just didn’t think quite had it. And one of them was particularly centric to Bill, and we just couldn’t get him to read it. And so that one didn’t get made, even though it was pretty damn good. So we’ve been thinking of alternatives, and we’re actually making some real progress, and we’ll see what happens. That’s the most honest answer I can think of.”

It’s unfortunate that we’ll most likely never see that Murray-centric script, because that’s probably the best shot Ghostbusters 3 had at equaling the original film. I love Ghostbusters as much as any movie geek who grew up in the ‘80s, but if there’s no Murray, my interest in Ghostbusters 3 drops dramatically.

At any rate, that’s the latest on the ongoing saga. Stay tuned for the Aykroyd response that’s sure to pop up online somewhere in the next few days.

In the meantime, check out this video or Reitman’s speech at the screening.

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